A man who found himself trapped inside a convenience store's beer cooler when it automatically closed and locked after selling time helped himself to some of the product, police said.

Jeremy Van Ert, 38, of Marshfield, faces a retail theft charged and was behind bars Thursday on a probation hold.

Advertisement

Authorities said Van Ert went into a Kwik Trip store on Tuesday night just before beer sales ended at midnight. When the clock struck 12, the cooler closed and Van Ert was locked inside.

"The subject found himself locked in the beer cooler, knew that Kwik Trip would not sell him any beer, so he decided to remain in the beer cooler," Marshfield Police Chief Rick Gramza told WAOW-TV. "A customer came by the beer cooler at about 6 a.m. and saw him inside."

According to the police report, Van Ert drank an 18 ounce bottle of Icehouse Beer and three cans of Four Loko. He also fell over a stack of 30 pack Busch Light Cans.

Van Ert fled but was later arrested by police. Gramza said Van Ert was put in the Wood County Jail on a probation hold from an unrelated case. That probation required him to remain sober.